Sentinel Chain ICO Review And SENC Token Analysis

The Sentinel ICO looks to lead blockchain to the livestock industry.

Sentinel Chain ICO Overview

The Sentinel Chain ICO and SENC Token are sourcing funding to bring formal financial services to the unbanked. Without access to formal financial services, the unbanked are subjected to high interest rates for loans as providers require greater incentives to offer higher-risk credit.

Sentinel Chain is built on the premise that if farmers could turn their “dead capital” i.e. livestock into a fungible asset, a greater incentive would exist for more secure lending services to provide access to credit and a range of other financial services. Simply put, Sentinel Chain collateralizes cattle for crypto.

Sentinel Chain ICO Value Proposition

The Sentinel Chain ICO ecosystem provides affordable and secure financial services to the unbanked by providing a link between unbanked farmers and large-scale financial institutions. The first step in this process is to introduce a physically tamper-proof and digitally-immutable system via RFID tags capable of turning livestock into a fungible asset with transparent and clearly defined value. The second step is to create an open marketplace that connects the unbanked to a network of global financial providers from whom they can borrow against their livestock.

The Sentinel Chain Ecosystem is comprised of 5 components:

The CrossPay Blockchain– a B2C financial ecosystem of separate blockchains for each local geography accessible via the CrossPay Mobile Application (a mobile interface built for Android). The CrossPay Blockchain consists of (a) the Tamper-Proof RFID-enabled Livestock Tag, (b) the CrossPay Mobile application, and (c) the blockchain. Each CrossPay Blockchain will use a native cryptocurrency token called Local CrossPay Token (LCT) pegged to the value the respective national currency.

TheCrossPay Mobile Application– a mobile interface built for Android. The app provides users with the ability to track assets, a digital identity and access to other financial services. Through the app, farmers will have access to various financial services including loans, insurance, crowdfunding and e-payments.

The Livestock Identification Tag– a tamper-proof and theft-proof device on both the design and data level. The tag stores the geolocation and time stamp information of each asset on to the CrossPay Blockchain. Immutability of the information ensures the authenticity and traceability, thereby creating a digital “passport” that proves the existence of the asset and verifies ownership by an individual.

The Sentinel Chain– a blockchain designed for the purpose of creating a low-cost, cross-border financial infrastructure connecting the unbanked to a global network of financial providers. The Sentinal Chain will be connected to the multitude of CrossPay Blockchains. The chain facilitates access by offshore financial service providers to local lending companies who act as a bridge to the unbanked farmers.

The Sentinel Chain Token (SENC) is an ERC20 token that allows financial service providers and cryptocurrency holders access to the Sentinel Chain marketplace. Activity on the Sentinel Chain will be facilitated using SENC.

Diagram of the Sentinel Chain Ecosystem

Sentinel Chain ICO Team

Sentinel Chain is incorporated in Singapore under Infocorp Foundation Limited as a non-profit organization. For this reason, three of the four heads hold the formal title of “Foundation Member”. A complete list of the team members and advisors can be found here.

Roy Lai is Founder, CEO and CTO of Sentinel Chain. He has an extensive background in fintech, including experience designing distributed ledger systems for inter-bank transactions in emerging countries with parent company InfoCorp.

Chia Hock Lai is a Foundation Member of Sentinel Chain. He is President of the Singapore Fintech Association and has over a decade of experience in the field.

Anson Zeall is the second Foundation Member of the project. He has experience both in finance as Managing Director of a private investment firm and has also launched several startups.

Kann Zwan is the final Foundation Member of Sentinel Chain. She is the CEO of the first Bitcoin ATM company in Singapore and has served as Vice President with three separate private investment companies in both Singapore and the United States.

Sentinel Chain ICO Strengths and Opportunities

Cash for cows is not a new concept. Five years ago, Zimbabwe enacted a law that allowed farmers to literally deposit their cows with lenders for access to cash. But the dual issues of trust and accessibility to rural populations remain prohibitive for banks to scale these services.

Firstly, farmers must trust the lenders with whom they deposit their livestock. Secondly, banks must develop highly sophisticated, costly channels for reaching borrowers. The Sentinel Chain ICO addresses both of these issues head on through the CrossPay Mobile Application and Livestock Identity Tag. The immutable data stored on the Identity Tag provides guarantee of the existence of the asset and the identity of the owner, nixing the need for a cattle depository. To simplify the accessibility issue for banks, the CrossPay Mobile app brings borrowers (plus their cattle) and lenders together via the digital marketplace.

Sentinel Chain have made progress on their offchain product with a demo version of the CrossPay Mobile App and RFID Tag system. A video demonstration of the product can be seen here.

Sentinel Chain also has a pilot project lined up with partners CloudWell (a more detailed background on the company can be found here) and Green Delta Insurance, two Bangladeshi fintech companies which operate payment and insurance services for rural farmers. Through these existing channels, an infrastructure is already in place to deploy Sentinel Chain and test its viability on the ground. These partnerships are a significant step in the right direction for proving the product concept and therefore, adding value to the project.

Sentinel ICO Weaknesses and Threats

The Sentinel Chain ICO aims to facilitate adoption and utilization of the Sentinel Chain by both local lending companies and offshore financial service providers. The incentive for offshore financial service providers to join the system is therefore contingent firstly on the system’s viability in the field.

To this end, the pilot project partnerships with CouldWell and Green Delta Insurance will play a crucial role in demonstrating proof of concept. Still, as this variable at present remains an unknown, there is no guarantee without partnerships with offshore financial service providers that the ecosystem has a clear path to scale.

The capacity of Sentinel Chain to produce lower interest rates still remains a fundamental question that will only be resolved once the system is in full operation. One of the main value propositions of the project is that access to more formal financial service providers will help to lower the interest rates of borrowers, but this has not always been the case in practice.

Referring back to the example of Zimbabwe, one economist raised the issue that banks will likely view livestock as a higher-risk form of collateral. When turning any asset into collateral, the lender has to have guaranteed access to the livestock for it to hold any value. As livestock are subject to the threats of drought, famine and disease, the chances of default are much higher than with more secure assets.

Sentinel Chain have stated in their partnership announcement that they plan to mitigate these risks by providing livestock insurance to farmers, which will offer more security for financial companies issuing loans. Though this solution sounds attractive in theory, the market is still high-risk and how financial institutions choose to structure their policies in response remains uncertain.

The Verdict on Sentinel Chain ICO

The Sentinel Chain ICO offers a highly sophisticated solution to one of the largest problems facing the world’s poorest population. The project has shown encouraging signs of progress on both product development and partnerships to launch the pilot program.

On the other hand, the uncertainty remains very high when it comes to adoption by both financial institutions and farmers themselves. Before any serious prospects for scaling exist, the pilot program must demonstrate the product is both technically and financially viable for an extended period of time. Having taken all these factors into consideration, we will be placing a small bet on the Sentinel Chain ICO.

Learn more about the Sentinel ICO from our Telegram Community by clicking here.

Sentinel ICO Review Scores

Summary

The Sentinel ICO seeks to expand blockchain to collateralize assets that exist in the real-world - not cars, or cash, but cattle (and other livestock). Banks are not known for betting on life and death, but we already know through OMG and EVX that banking solutions for the unbanked are popular blockchain models - why not extend that to living resources, too?

Sentine Chain ICO: The Facts

Token Distribution: 40% to crowdsale, 30% to treasury and reserve fund, 20% to early supporters, 10% to founding team

Price per Token: Price per ETH TBA on 26th February at 00:00 GMT

Maximum Market Cap (at crowdsale price): $36 million

Accepted Payments: ETH

Excluded Countries: US, China

Bonus Structure: Presale- 25%

Presale Terms: Closed

Whitelist: February 10th

Important Dates: Crowdsale- Early March exact date TBA

Expected Token Release: TBA

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Poor quality, weak, or inexperienced leadership can doom a project from the outset. Advisors who serve only to pad their own resumes and who have ill-defined roles can be concerning. But great leadership, with relevant industry experience and contacts, can make the difference between a successful and profitable ICO, and a flub.

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What is the technology behind this ICO, what product are they creating, and is it new, innovative, different – and needed?

The IOTA project is a spectacular example of engineers run amok. The technology described or in use must be maintainable, achievable, and realistic, otherwise the risk of it never coming into existence is incredibly high.

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More interesting (usually) is the ICO that seeks to further some progress along the path to success, and which has a clearly-identified roadmap with achievable and reasonable milestones along the way. Founders who are already partially-invested in their products are generally more invested in their futures.

Having a strong community is one of the fundamental building blocks of any strong blockchain project. It is important that the project demonstrates early on that it is able to generate and build a strong and empowered support base.

The ICO marketplace is becoming more crowded and more competitive. While in the past it was enough to merely announce an offering, today’s successful ICO’s work hard to build awareness and excitement around their offering.

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